NO LONGER AVAILABLE...It's always bittersweet when I sell one, never mind three.

As a decorative painter, I always paint with my client's needs in mind. My toy portraits are something for myself. I paint them for me and it's always surprising when other people connect with them. This person viewed my work two years ago and has haunted her ever since. She gets it, and I love it. I know these three paintings are in good hands.

In my toy portraits, I hope to capture emotion, mood and interpersonal dynamics in my subject and composition. Some succeed, some come close and some are just cute. I have my own reasons for every one one of my paintings. Some of them are really quite humorous, as well as sad. I generally don't like to explain my paintings. Besides the fact that I'm a very private person, I also I want my audience to connect with them in their own personal way.

It's always bittersweet when a painting sells, and is no longer in my possession. Eventually this subsides as I create new compositions that express my current perspective and emotions, except for "Olive Waits". She was painted 5 years ago, at a point in my life when I felt stuck with very little control. My coping method was to be patient and wait. Once I added "true to myself" to this list, my life changed for the better. Although my new path has been a bumpy ride, I'm happy doing what I love with wonderful people around me (no matter what the distance).

So, this is the story to Olive Waits. I tell it, because she'll always be mine. Well, she is me.